Lost Drone Not Sure Why

[wingbotics]

Ok, now what is the verdict? Is the problem with the electronic, electrical, mechanical or software? Somehow one of these should be covered by the manufacturer, right? Did you expose your controller in the rain or humidity areas? Your case seems disturbing in my mind. Thank you.

Well... this was equipment malfunction.

 

[bkushner]

Ok, now what is the verdict? Is the problem with the electronic, electrical, mechanical or software? Somehow one of these should be covered by the manufacturer, right? Did you expose your controller in the rain or humidity areas? Your case seems disturbing in my mind. Thank you.

No controller has never been wet and is kept inside when not flying.

 

[bkushner]

Now looking back. Had I know it was a faulty controller I would have shut down the controller and I believe the drone would have returned when signal lost.

 

[wingbotics]

I'm sorry for your loss. My M2P is close to perfection to me in the last 1.5 years under my possession. While I hope that yours was an isolated case, I had an unusual experience about 8 mouths ago (I intended to post my experience to share and to solicit thought... Well, not until now.)

In a nice morning of January/February, the M2P took off by hand launch. I pulled the drone off from my deck (2nd floor) about 16 feet away from the house through yawing without touching the left stick. But all of a sudden, it sank down 12+ feet almost like in sport mode while I had it in T or P mode. My heart almost jumped out from my throat. It was about 5+ above the ground then it stabilized again. I thought that it was going to smash to the ground. In the range of these about 3-8 seconds, I did not hold the left stick down at all. Since I did not do recording, I have not revisited the event incident. Now I wonder if your case was an extreme case of mine. I inclined to think that this is the controller issue. I have to be extra careful on the controller. Perhaps I should consider replacing it with the smart controller.

No controller has never been wet and is kept inside when not flying.

 

[bkushner]

 

[bkushner]

One of the perils of flying 3rd party software. I've lost 3 drones over the years and never have been sent another. Not sure why I pay for DJI Care. Also they refused to refund the warranty payment I made 2 months ago for DJI Care. Pretty shabby DJI.

 

[Thomas B]

One of the perils of flying 3rd party software. I've lost 3 drones over the years and never have been sent another. Not sure why I pay for DJI Care. Also they refused to refund the warranty payment I made 2 months ago for DJI Care. Pretty shabby DJI.

Actually a very common position for an insurer who is also the manufacturer.
I have noted that many don’t consider this.

 

[xpery]

While reading Wingbotics M2P experience of a drone having "its own life".... I have a DJI product, a Phantom 4Advanced, that behaved really strange for just a few occasions. When started and raised to 8-10 feet it just started to YAW without any input what so ever. When tested in my garden it did this again and very randomly and only for this second flight. This was on DJI GO 4.
The only thing we could find out was that it could have been a malfunctioning controller. If there is a potentiometer of poor quality there may be a possibility of irratic behavior. It went away and I can not reproduce it anymore... Lucky me - it was on yaw and not up/down. Any one else have had this uncontrolled thing?

 

[wingbotics]

Thank you for echoing on this. Same in my case, I have not seen this issue again though it still bugs my mind once in a while. Controllers are joysticks of mechanical devices which are subjected to tear and wear. I've always been gentle to them. It might be prematurely worn out but that is way too early. My MP controller never behaves like this so far.
I'll consider buying another controller like the smart controller before I will run into the OP's situation.
Good luck to y'all and fly safely.

While reading Wingbotics M2P experience of a drone having "its own life".... ... can not reproduce it anymore... Lucky me - it was on yaw and not up/down. Any one else have had this uncontrolled thing?

 

[kidroc]

If you're using Litchi, why are you in sport mode instead of waypoint (P)? It would have returned and landed exactly at the point of takeoff w/o any input from you.

You do not have to only use waypoints using litchi!!! The man wanted to fly it himself. I have seen a waypoint mission fail too.

 

[bkushner]

Just a quick follow up. So after refusing to cover my drone (DJI Care) I sent the FAILED controller in for repair and they are charging me $85 to fix the controller that crashed my $1500 drone....Gotta love DJI.

 

[OliverDrool]

This is my worst fear. Maybe I shouldn't have purchased a unit that - if this happened - I'm not sure I could afford a new one of?

Before flying it's a good idea to check the Kp Index for the day/your area.

I use the app "UAV Forecast" to check it out. I have no idea how accurate it is (I presume it comes from NOAA or NASA?), but if glancing at this metric could prevent disaster I'm all in.

 

[Camino Ken]

This is my worst fear. Maybe I shouldn't have purchased a unit that - if this happened - I'm not sure I could afford a new one of?

Before flying it's a good idea to check the Kp Index for the day/your area.

I use the app "UAV Forecast" to check it out. I have no idea how accurate it is (I presume it comes from NOAA or NASA?), but if glancing at this metric could prevent disaster I'm all in.

By the way, Kp index has almost nothing to do with the flight safety of drones. Worst case it can have a minor impact on the number of GPS satellites your drone can “see”. This is only a potential problem if you fly very near the north or south poles. There are many, way more important things to worry about to ensure safe flying.

 

[kidroc]

If you're using Litchi, why are you in sport mode instead of waypoint (P)? It would have returned and landed exactly at the point of takeoff w/o any input from you.

Jut because you use litchi dose not mean you have to fly a mission it has many modes just like the go app sometimes more..

 

[Andrex]

Your rules might be different, but I'm amazed that no one has picked up that you flew your drone almost 5 km away from the home point and thus out of line of sight. If a drone or controller can malfunction at that distance, it could feasibly have gone sideways as well as down, perhaps into a person or property, and since you oculdn't see it with your own eyes, your ability to take appropriate action is thus limited.

Seems quite irresponsible to me.